Page 26 of Once Bitten, Twice Fried
Julie sighed. “Sorry. It’s not about your cocktail at all.” She looked up. “It’s just… I remembered a very bad cocktail that I drank recently. Just the memory of it still grosses me out. Your cocktail is like heaven compared to that.”
Zoe chuckled. “How bad could it be?”
Julie made a sorry face and sighed. “There was so much pineapple juice in it. Then vodka and gin. And champagne I think?”
“Ew. Why did you drink that?”
Julie sipped her cocktail. Zoe could see that she was blushing. “No reason. I was just trying out new things.”
“New gross things?”
“What can I say? I’m very open to new experiences.”
“Was it better or worse than gin, cider and Worcestershire sauce?”
Julie blinked at Zoe again. It was amazing how she hadn’t changed after all these years, Zoe thought. Julie’s surprised face brought her ten years back in time.
“It was worse actually.” Julie was looking in the distance. “So much worse. At least we had a good laugh about our dumb cocktail. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more with you?”
“What?” Zoe’s heart beat faster.
“What?”
“You said you would have enjoyed this pineapple cocktail more if you were with me? What do you mean?”
Julie’s face turned red. “I mean, maybe I would have enjoyed it more if you had made it?” She was sweating through her words. “You know, because you’re good at cocktails.”
After all this time, Julie was still the worst liar. “I see.” Zoe smirked. “I can fix you one right now if you want, I can run to the shop and get a pineapple…”
“No!” Julie shook her head energetically. “Please don’t. I think some things are best kept unknown.” She tripped over the last word.
“I agree.” Zoe slowly nodded.
* * *
The rumble of the train had made Zoe sleepy, even though the hens were being as noisy as they could be. They had all decided to have an impromptu ABBA a capella sing-along, with sound effects and all. The other passengers seemed to be annoyed, butnot enough to tell them to shut up. The hens were surprisingly pretty good singers. Zoe awoke to find that she had fallen asleep on Julie’s shoulder. Some habits die hard.
“Oh sorry.” Zoe rubbed her eyes.
“It’s alright.” Julie smiled.
Zoe was thrilled and relieved that Julie had been so nice today. It was exactly like she remembered things to be. It was a slow start but eventually, they just clicked back into place. They hadn’t left each other’s side since Zoe asked her what was wrong with her cocktail earlier this morning. Zoe looked at Julie, sitting stiff as a plank. Her bicep was slightly bulging under her hen t-shirt.
“Have you been working out?” Zoe squeezed at Julie’s upper arm, which made her jump. She looked confusedly at Zoe.
“Not really.” Julie flexed her arm. “I guess this is all from helping girls build IKEA furniture?” She seemed to be discovering her muscles for the first time.
“How many couches do you build in a week?” Zoe was somewhat terrified.
“If there’s pizza in it for me, I can build one every day.”
“Yes, I remember that was already your thing in college.”
Julie stared down at her own arm for a moment, then looked up at Zoe. “Do you remember that time I ate for free for a week because my new neighbours asked me to help build all their furniture?”
Zoe laughed. “Absolutely. You talked about it for months.”
“That was a great time.” Julie paused. “I think it’s in my top ten accomplishments.”
